Meet the Owner of a New Halal & Organic Meal Delivery Service

A while ago, I found out about a cute hijab company called Framed People, based in Los Angeles, that carries hijabs made with fairtrade fabrics. Recently the founder, 27-year-old Zain Abdullah, co-founded Halal Chefwith her husband Rehan Azhar, 26. I was so excited to hear about this because I’m always looking for quality, clean and healthy meals for my family. I got to chat with Zain, who is based in San Francisco and Chicago, to learn more about this unique service as well as more about her hijab brand. Check it out!

Muslim Girl: Please tell our readers about the new meal service company you just launched, Halal Chef, as well as about Framed People.

Zain Abdullah: In general, my husband and I are passionate about serving the Muslim community. We are obsessed with design and how it can enable amazing experiences. Our goal is to create products that people are ecstatic about, for Muslims, by Muslims. Framed People is a modest fashion and hijab brand. We pride ourselves in creating hijabs with exceptional designs, fair trade fabrics and manufacturing in LA.Halal Chef is a halal meal prep company. We prep, package and deliver halal, organic, delicious food directly to your home.

Grey feather hijab from Framed People

Tell us more about the products and food you’ll be using in your meal services.

All our ingredients are 100 percent zabiha halal and organic. Sourcing organic halal meat is extremely challenging, but we are obsessive about the quality of food we consume. Our recipes are not your traditional Nihari, Butter Chicken, or Biryani, but instead cuisine that we are surrounded with, but typically is not consumed with halal meat.

The Prophetic tradition teaches us to give to those around us before giving to those afar. For every meal sold, we will provide a meal to someone in need. tweet

Some examples include Crispy Chinese Chicken or Bucatini with Hearty Beef Bolognese Sauce.

You launched during ISNA this past weekend. What has the response been so far?

The response has been amazing, alhamdulilah. We soft launched on Friday, June 30 and will be delivering our first batch of meals to customers Wednesday, July 5, insha’Allah. Our meals are $14 each, and come in kits of six meals each. We sold out of all meals within a couple days of launching.

How will Halal Chef be giving back to the community in the Get One, Give One campaign?

The Prophetic tradition teaches us to give to those around us before giving to those afar. For every meal sold, we will provide a meal to someone in need. Every quarter, we will be assembling volunteers, many of whom we hope are Halal Chef customers, to make and hand out meals to the needy. A hundred percent of the funding for the food will come from Halal Chef proceeds.

We appeal to women who want quality over quantity. One of our biggest forms of validation was when a customer who didn’t wear the headscarf actually wanted to start after she saw our hijabs and fell in love. tweet

Tell us more about Framed People and how you got started down this entrepreneurial journey.

Framed People was born out of a need to feel confident in hijab. Far too often, we saw brands buying pre-made hijabs from China and Alibaba and reselling. These hijabs were often made of lower quality fabrics and even worse, made in sweatshops. To us, being modest meant more than just covering up. It meant wearing hijabs that were ethically made from start to finish. It meant wearing quality fabrics and amazing designs that made you feel confident.

This is why we created Framed People, a San Francisco-based modesty company that launched in November of 2016 and has quickly gained cult status amongst the Muslim community in the U.S. We appeal to women who want quality over quantity. One of our biggest forms of validation was when a customer who didn’t wear the headscarf actually wanted to start after she saw our hijabs and fell in love.

Framed People has been approached by multiple department stores including Macy’s and Nordstrom who want to appeal to the growing and affluent Muslim demographic. We are known for our exclusive feather Hijabs (shown below) that have been sold out since we released them!

Black feather hijab from Framed People

When will you start taking orders nationally and how much are the meals?

Halal Chef will be expanding market by market based on where demand is. Our halal and all organic meals cost $14 each.

Are you excited about this meal delivery service? Let us know below and what your favorite meals from their website is!

Aya is a freelance journalist, educator and blogger. She received a BA degree in communication & English literature and holds a master's degree in education. When she isn't writing, she's probably chasing around her two young children, eating sushi, or daydreaming about taking a nap. Follow her on Twitter @ayakhalil